Two-Hander Style

Two-Hander Style involves carrying and wielding a weapon with both hands. Naturally, many weapons (including polearms, the great axe, the two-handed sword, and others) require two-handed technique. Other weapons (such as bastard sword, javelin, and spear) have it as a listed option. (Two-handed options for Harpoon, Javelin, Long Spear, Spear, and Trident are given in the Weapons section.)

Advantages

The main advantage of two-handed weapon technique is that it allows the character to wield large two-handed weapons which can do substantial amounts of damage.

A second advantage is that, if you are using a two-handed weapon, the Disarm maneuver is only of partial use against you.

A single successful Disarm against a two-handed weapon user won't knock the weapon out of the wielder's hands: it will merely knock his weapon askew and make him take some time to recover, so he automatically loses initiative on his next round.

However, two Disarm maneuvers successfully made against the character in the same round will knock the weapon loose.

Disadvantages

As with single-two-handed weapon use, two-handed weapon technique has the drawback that the user cannot wear or use a shield, or gain the shield's AC bonus.

Style Specialization

You can, by devoting a weapon proficiency to it, take a Style Specialization with Two-Hander Style.

Style Specialization with Two-Hander Style gives you a very specific benefit: When you're using a weapon two-handed, that weapon's Speed Factor is reduced by 3.

For example, a fighter with Two-Hander Style Specialization and wielding a Bastard Sword can wield his weapon faster in two-handed style than in one-handed style. Used in one hand, the Bastard Sword has a Speed Factor of 6. In two hands (normally), it has a Speed Factor of 8. But used in two hands by someone with Two-Hander Style Specialization, it has a Speed Factor of (8-3) 5.

This is because when a fighter wields such a weapon with both hands on the hilt, he has more leverage on the blade and can move it faster. That's what Style Specialization in Two-Hander Style will do for the character: It teaches him how to use the weapon much faster and more aggressively than someone with less specialized training in the weapon.

One-Handed Weapons used Two-Handed

Some players don't realize that many other one-handed weapons can also be used two-handed. Since these weapons don't do any more damage two-handed, there usually isn't much reason to use them this way; however, with Style Specialization in Two-Hander Style, now there's a reason.

If you specialize in Two-Hander Style and then use a one-handed weapon in two hands, you also get a bonus of +1 to damage. Thus, if you take a Two-Hander Style Specialization, when using a long sword two-handed, you do 1d8+1 damage instead of the base 1d8 (or 1d12+1 vs. large targets, instead of the base 1d12).

The one-handed weapons which can be used two-handed in this fashion include: Battle axe, Club, Footman's flail, Footman's pick, Horseman's flail, Horseman's mace, Horseman's pick, Morning star, Longsword, Warhammer.